2005 Leroy F. Greene Design Award Winner Profiles
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New Built Award of Honor Alder Creek Middle School Tahoe Truckee Unified School District Lionakis Beaumont Design Group
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Alder Creek Middle School is a demonstration school for California 's Collaborative for High Performance Schools program. The project is situated at 6,000 feet elevation with high annual snowfall and one of the coldest climates in the country. In spite of the site's slope to the east, the building is oriented on an east-west axis, taking full advantage of optimum daylighting. The two-story building is cut into the hillside providing extra insulation against extreme temperatures and minimizing the visual impact of the building within a scenic corridor. |
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Small learning communities - where students know each other and their teachers know them – are created on each floor, and given unique identity to the grade level. Interior corridors provide gathering places in inclement weather as does the daylit interior stairwell. The learning environment became the highest priority using simple systems for natural daylighting, indoor air quality and natural ventilation. Sustainable materials such as linoleum, burlap wallcoverings, recycled carpet and ceiling tiles are an extension of the philosophy by which the students will learn. By exposing building structure like steel, masonry, glass and concrete and systems such as duckwork and piping, the building teaches about the built environment. Geothermal wells rest below a soccer field of recycled tires, and groundwater is protected by using standard storm drain systems that filter pollutants at parking areas and discharge to an infiltration basin. | |
Jurors said, “This is an innovative design that will set the standard for schools in the future in terms of the way that they're reacting to the environment and environmental considerations, use of energy, lighting, and impacts of all the water usage. This is where schools are going to go in the future.” |
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